Canvas (Instructure)

Overview

Canvas is the learning management system of Instructure, founded in 2008 and based in Salt Lake City, Utah.^[6] Instructure was acquired by the investment firm KKR in 2024, shortly after it acquired the credentials company Parchment.^[6] Instructure describes Canvas as “the #1 LMS in North America” and states that at peak it has supported 6 million concurrent users with 99.9% uptime, has had 27 million mobile app downloads, is available in 33 languages and more than 100 countries, and has more than 1,000 partners and integrations.^[7]

The Canvas family includes the core Canvas LMS for courses, assignments, grading and communication; Canvas Career for skills-based, non-degree and professional learning; and Canvas Catalog for course marketplaces.^[7] Canvas is sold in three tiers, with pricing set by institution rather than published.^[7]

Canvas’s strengths are its large integration ecosystem and wide adoption in education. It is less often used for corporate training than dedicated workplace LMS products, and education buyers face long procurement cycles and institution-specific pricing.

Canvas (Instructure) features

• Course, assignment and grading tools
• Canvas Career for non-degree learning
• Canvas Catalog course marketplace
• 1,000+ partners and integrations
• 33 languages
• Mobile apps

Canvas (Instructure) pricing

Three tiers; pricing by quote for each institution.

Canvas (Instructure) strengths and limitations

Appears in

• Best Learning Management Systems in 2026 #3

Canvas (Instructure) alternatives and competitors

Alternatives to Canvas (Instructure): companies ranked in the same lists.

• Docebo
• Cornerstone OnDemand
• Moodle
• D2L Brightspace
• Absorb LMS
• Blackboard
• TalentLMS
• 3360Learning
• LearnUpon
• iSpring LMS
• Thinkific